


Commentry on The Mariner's Wife

by Raaf



Series: Meta Analyses [5]
Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Book: Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, F/M, Meta, Númenor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:00:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27936782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raaf/pseuds/Raaf
Summary: Some thoughts on Aldarion and Erendis' narrative.
Relationships: Aldarion/Erendis
Series: Meta Analyses [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1923727
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Commentry on The Mariner's Wife

The first thing that strikes me about Aldarion and Erendis’ conflict is that public opinion is on Erendis’ side the entire time. Aldarion gets flack from everyone, including his father the King, for being so inconsiderate towards Erendis. Erendis and Aldarion both blame each other as men/women being so unreasonable, but their problems stem from Aldarion personally being spitefully contrary. Not really their society or the narrative endorsing his behaviour.

There is exactly one person who thinks Erendis should have let Aldarion’s behaviour slide, and that is her mother, Núneth. She frames in pretty practical terms that the smart thing would have been for Erendis to be the bigger person and forgive him. Erendis is right from a principled perspective to not want to treat her relationship in such terms. Núneth’s point, that you need to agree with the person you spend your life with on _how_ you should spend that life, is perfectly correct. But unfair when she frames it in such stupidly gendered terms that the onus there is on the wife. Reacting against that might actually be why Erendis herself attributes Aldarion’s failures to a sexist issue in her speech to Ancalimë.

While it is a very badass speech, I don’t actually think Erendis is making a fair condemnation of Númenor as a whole, or is intended to be seen as being entirely correct. Aldarion was doing something important with the Guild of Venturers, not, as Erendis puts it, just selfishly “playing”. Most reasonable people would agree that helping Gil-galad set up defences against Sauron was entirely moral to make a priority. (Leaving aside for now that Aldarion and Gil-galad messed up big time with all the deforestation Aldarion did in the process). Communicating the actual importance of his quests is how Aldarion succeeds in justifying himself to his father, Tar-Meneldur.

Which is a fair point and ties back to Núneth’s; Aldarion and Erendis’ marriage would have been much smoother if they had been on the same page about his ventures. It _is_ pretty selfish of Erendis to begrudge Aldarion spending his time on missions to prevent Sauron’s evil empire from taking over the world.

Then Aldarion immediately puts himself back in the wrong by objecting to Tar-Meneldur’s criticism against Aldarion, for not explaining those justifications in a more timely way, by claiming he did discuss those points with Erendis. Aldarion never explains himself _properly_ to her, unless we make a very generous interpretation in his favour by assuming that conversation happened off-page. He is mindbogglingly oblivious about how badly he failed in addressing Erendis’ concerns about his priorities, and willfully ignorant about her perspective.

The broader point of the story seems to be that choice between Númenórean interventionism (Aldarion) and isolationism (Erendis), summed up by Tar-Meneldur:

> “I am in too great doubt to rule. To prepare or to let be? To prepare for war, which is yet only guessed: train craftsmen and tillers in the midst of peace for bloodspilling and battle: put iron in the hands of greedy captains who will love only conquest, and count the slain as their glory? Will they say to Eru: _At least your enemies were amongst them?_ Or to fold hands, while friends die unjustly: let men live in blind peace, until the ravisher is at the gate? What then will they do: match naked hands against iron and die in vain, or flee leaving the cries of women behind them? Will they say to Eru: _At least I spilled no blood?_ ”

Tar-Meneldur shows himself as the most responsible and moral person in the story, because he understands _why_ it’s a complicated ethical question. Both Aldarion and Erendis fail to see the broader view.

Aldarion, even aside from ignoring the costs to his home-life, is oblivious at best and uncaring at worst as to the costs that his quest inflicts. His fortress-building causes incredible devastation to the forests and the people living there, and we know that Númenor’s interactions with Middle-earth will get exactly as ugly as Tar-Meneldur fears.

Erendis likewise is oblivious or uncaring about all the suffering Númenor’s friends are being exposed to without help, and the danger of letting Sauron go unopposed. We know that Sauron would have won his war against the Elves and retrieved the Three, without Aldarion laying the foundations for Númenor to have the power projection to relieve the Elves.

Neither of them are fully correct, and what they really should have done was to understand each other’s perspective for a better whole.

In the next generation we get a parallel with Ancalimë. Ancalimë, despite being against her father’s policies, is emphasized in the narration to be just like her father in character, and consequently we see her same self-centeredness end up destroying her relationships like her father’s had ruined his. Aside from which of the two stances is correct, the root problem in the application is lacking compassion.


End file.
